In the wearing apparel field, a wide variety of clothing is designed so that the portion encircling the wearer's waist fits snugly. In articles such as jeans, skirts, trousers and the like, where the article of clothing reaches up to and terminates about the waist, the waist encircling portion is generally provided with means for drawing such portion from a loose to a close fit and securing same.
When reasonably close waist line fit is desired in a garment, difficulties arise due to body dimension variations, both from person to person in the general population, and for a given person temporary changes as to waist line. One often either sacrifices close fit or comfort.
Various adjustable features for waist lines have been previously devised. For instance, garments have been made with permanently joined waist bands of excess girth, which are gathered to smaller dimensions by elastic material encased within the waist band. Such "continuously" adjustable waist bands, however, are often deemed unsuitable due to their gathered appearance.
A variation of the elastic waist band is described in U.S. Pat. No. 1,174,976, as a removable elastic strip which is attached to an inelastic permanent waist band to draw it in closer. Such strip is encased in a sheath which in turn is stitched to the permanent band. The strip is provided with a plurality of button holes for attachment to a pair of buttons on the band. Selection of the button holes determines the extent the band will be shortened.
Another method of providing adjustability that has been devised previously is to provide, for a center-opening waist band, a plurality of alternative closure members on one or the other or both ends of the oermanent waist band, such as is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 570,317, 4,164,004, and 853,993.
A further variation, again for a center-opening band, combines an elastic tab that can be stretched to meet a plurality of alternative closure members as is described in U.S. Pat. No. 920,115.
Such adjusting means require additional elements to be incorporated into the garment at manufacture or alterations to the garment after manufacture, and in many instances the stylish appearance of a garment as to the area around the waist band is lost due to these additional elements and/or alterations.
For many wearers, a means for occasionally and temporarily adjusting a "styled to fit" garment in order to loosen the waist band is desired. Such a means, if adaptable to any conventional means for closing waist bands, would permit practically unlimited choice as to purchasing jeans, skirts, trousers and the like in a size providing the desired fit, which then may occasionally be adjusted to loosen the fit for comfort when required. It is further desired that such means require no permanent alteration to the garment itself so as to retain its normal stylish appearance when the need for waist band loosening passes.
For some wearers, a means for loosening the waist band of ready-to-wear clothing is necessary generally due to size problems. For such wearers, it is often desired that such a loosening means be relatively inexpensive and avoid costly alterations. Again, if such means be adaptable to any conventional means for closinq waist bands, the choice in clothing selection becomes almost unlimited. Further if the means is detachable, one can avoid purchasing such separate means for each and every garment requiring same.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a means for extending the waist band of a garment with normal closure means. It is an object to provide such means which can be used as a temporary measure and requires no alteration of the garment itself. It is an object to provide such means which, in use, permits security of closing. These and other objects will become apparent from the description of the invention given below.